


Emotional Consecuences 101

by MarlaHectic



Series: Post-Graduate In Friendship [9]
Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Epilogue, F/M, Greendale Community College, M/M, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Post-Canon, Self-Indulgent, Shorta-kinda, abed is very meta, gods I have tagging, jeff has issues, so nothing new on the horizon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:01:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24894334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarlaHectic/pseuds/MarlaHectic
Summary: Twenty years after their first meeting as a Study Group, Abed has a proposal to make…and Jeff doesn’t like it even a bit.(Worst summary writer ever is back! Just some kind of self-indulged epilogue to the show).
Relationships: Annie Edison/Jeff Winger, Britta Perry/Paige (Community), Shirley Bennett/Original Male Character, Troy Barnes/Abed Nadir
Series: Post-Graduate In Friendship [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1775257
Kudos: 19





	Emotional Consecuences 101

**Author's Note:**

> I thought this was going to be a one-document-page fic…I guess it escalated. This is set, as it is going to be early stated in the fic (and also in the summary, yeah, I repeat myself pretty much), twenty years after the Pilot and it’s both canon and my post-finale series fics compliant. However, you can read it without having read any of those, as it can be perfectly read as a stand-alone fic.  
> Finally, this was written mainly almost as a self-therapy (is writing Community fics one of my fav ways of therapy? Indeed it is), so sorry if it gets too much inner-thoughts no-plot, specially by the end.  
> Oh and, please, forgive all my quick tipper and non-native speaker mistakes. I hope you enjoy this,  
> Marla
> 
> Allons-y!

EMOTIONAL CONSECUENCES 101

It's been 20 years since the first Study Group meeting took place and, as every year that week at the beginning of September (as well as a Christmas one), the six living members of this group reunite as a mandatory holiday.  
Sometimes they are at each other’s throats, it's true, but they are family. And the family you choose is something you can't nor want to get rid of.  
However, this year Jeff can't help but thinking there is something weird going on...  
...and weird for Greendale is really, really top weirdness.

It started when Annie and him arrived from the airport to find Abed and Troy...keeping the six feet distance, as if the fucking Coronavirus was back.   
And they seemed weirdly unconnected.  
"Guys...did you fight over the last Inspector SpaceTime reincarnation? I know it wasn't exactly compelling, but it isn't a reason to give each other the silent treatment."   
Yep; after years of living together, Annie convinced him to watch the show (actually, it only took a few months, they weren't even together Together back then...in those kind of moments he couldn't feel gladder about the fact that she was younger and didn't choose a Law path: she would have destroyed him in any trial they had to face each other) and he enjoys it -not that he ever admitted it to anyone except the three people now with him, of course-.   
"What is Inspector Space Time?"  
The older man almost chocked, since when did Abed not know his favorite show?

However, he thought they were just playing one of their extravagant private games. Some things never change, after all.   
Then, Duncan appeared, smelling like…alcohol?   
He was puzzled; the professor hadn’t had a drink in even a longer time than he had. And if he had gone down that road again...  
Yeah, he was his friend after all and clearly in need of help, but he couldn’t risk his whole life and he certainly didn’t trust himself enough if a good open bottle of scotch was part of the deal.  
There was only a solution.  
Time of some selfish old-fashioned me.  
He pretended he hadn’t seen him, concentrating on his phone, where he had a text from Britta saying that Troy had told her that he was so sorry but that she had to…come back into the closet?  
Definitively, something fishy was going on.  
Unluckily for him, Ian approached him anyway.  
“The hell, Duncan, you reek like rum with vodka and…is that tequila? What had you drank? You know what? I don’t want to know, see ya’.”  
The shorter man held him back.  
“Wait, Jeff. This is just perfume. Well, that was Abed told me before making me smell like the Queen’s favorite pastime.”  
He raised an eyebrow.  
“And why on Earth would he do that?”  
"Same reason he gave me this and told me to give it to you but not to open it until you whole bunch is together: no bloody idea. But, please, take it. He told me he would tell MY Britta I tried to hit on your-ish Britta; and you know how fierce Scottish women can be. Please, she scares me.”  
He took the envelope.  
“Fine, but you owe me Another one, Ian. Don’t forget about last year pretending to be your American cousin to prove there are handsome genes on your family tree.”

When he arrived at their old Study Room –which, apparently, stayed the same for other bizarre groups of Greendale students as years went by-, everyone was already there. Shirley was pale, Annie seemed to be trying to process some extremely completely information (even for Annie’s standards) and Britta looked just very angry (partly with him for not answering her text, for what he could read by her furious stare as he came through the door). On the other side…Abed was, in his own words, ‘Season 1 Abed’, acting more distant and mechanical than usual; same went for Troy, back in his slightly dickish high-school prom king attitude from when they first met.  
And, in that moment, he realized there was kind of another person in the room…  
…right in the place where he used to seat, there was one of Pierce’s sperm bottles.   
Ok, that was enough.  
“Abed, I know you are behind this. What the hell is going on?”  
He turned his head to him.  
“You wanted to sleep with Britta.”  
“Yeah, twenty years ago.”  
“No, today.”  
“Drop the act, for the…I don’t even know the time, this is not a show, specially not a season 1 show. I can confidently say she’s not the person of this room I am sleeping with tonight.”  
“Gross. Sorry Annie, no offence.”  
“Non taken, Britta. And I am not so sure you are sleeping with ANYONE tonight…but, Abed, Jeff is right. You and Troy are acting…”  
“…very season one? Yeah. It is because of what is inside that envelope.”  
They all turned to the enveloped given by Duncan, curious.  
Shirley, logically tired of the whole situation (after all, being taken back to a moment when she had just found out his ex-husband was cheating on her was not exactly anyone’s piece of cake) tried to take it of her friend’s hand, but Abed stopped her by making an struggled noise.  
“It must be Jeff, it would make the circle complete.”  
Scoffing, the man opened it reluctantly and, just as he did so many years ago when he opened another envelope given by the British Psychology Professor, he frowned with anger and left for the building’s main stairs.  
This had to be a fucking joke.

The rest of the group found him in the very exact position he was two decades before. Frustrated and more than slightly infuriated.   
“Maybe I am not completely objective but…the half-beard and the few non-dyed grey hairs are an upgrade from last time; more interesting.” Said Annie while she sat being him.  
“Yeah, the outfit is nicer too.” Shirley pointed out as she sat at his right, joined in his right side by Britta.  
“Anything to say, Perry?”  
“Sorry Winger, not feeding your ego.”  
“Sorry man, I told Abed you might react badly to this…but you know how he is. And I tried, even in our way here from LA.”  
Troy and Abed were now standing in front of him.  
“Don’t worry Troy, you are not the one who wrote this…A show? A show about US? About LITERALY US? Because I’ve read a couple of pages and it’s scarily similar to everything we went through.”  
“It’s only the three first episodes. Then it will differ from our storyline, though I’d try to make the endgame similar.”  
“Abed, I have, fuck it, almost all of us have kids. All, if you count Britta and Paige’s cats. What if…what if…?”  
[What if they realize what a fucked up looser their dad is?]  
Abed seemed to understand.  
“I get it. You are still holding back some self-hate. Don’t worry, it’s normal. I sometimes do too.”  
“Do you?” Troy sounded concerned, as something he ought to have noticed.  
“Not really, but it felt like the right thing to say.”  
“See? I am the only one.”  
[Because it doesn’t matter how far I go, I am still scared of going back to the way I used to be.]  
To his surprise, Annie hit him in the back of the head.   
It actually hurt.  
“That’s just so unfair. Why did you think I arrived so freaked out the other day from work?” She took a deep breath before continuing. “Unofficially speaking, we dealt with a drug cartel and one of the informants…was a woman, my age, I can’t say names but she’s a big, successful deal…she was a lot like me…if I never decided to go to rehab and give up a good college and all my mother had planned out for me. And, do you know the worst? For a moment…I felt jealous. I could have been HER. And when I realized what I was feeling…I felt, well, terrible. So terrible I didn’t say a word.”  
“Annie…”  
“I know. And I bet I am not alone.”  
“You are not pumpkin. The other day…I was just holding hands with Jorge and, when someone asked me how long how we’ve been married…I ended up telling them a story of our perfectly Christian-book life, making myself a devoted housewife, again; as if I was ashamed of the woman I’ve become and…it wasn’t nice.” Shirley went silent and all quickly tried to reassure her.  
“I bet Troy and Britta have stories to tell too, but this is going out of the plot...The point is, we have all come a very long way: Shirley is her own bussinness woman and had a very attractive never-husband boyfriend; Britta has finally being able to successfully defend and fight for the causes she felt worth it; Annie is the best at her supersecret job and has proven herself smarter and more independent than anyone who could have thought she was; I do all my shows and movies and I am quite good at it; you yourself have come from being a soulless fake lawyer to an actual lawyer that wins almost all lost causes; and Troy…he’s just the best person on this reality.”  
They shared such a long look Jeff started to felt uncomfortable and turned to Annie, who smiled widely at him.  
“We are cuter.” She muttered.   
A voice interrupted the moment.  
-GET A ROOM. The four of you. The other two, I’m free at eight tonight.   
They all stared at the apparition. It was Pierce’s hologram, still randomly appearing at its place at campus with incorrect but weirdly accurate for the moment quotes.   
For an instance, they were all reunited.  
When the ‘ghost’ disappeared, Abed spoke again.  
“So…did you change your mind? Can I do it? And, if you allow it, are the rest of you ok?”  
“Wait…what does his opinion count more?” Britta said, outraged.  
“His obsession with you brought us together; plus he is the most sensitive of us, beside Troy, but he is producing as always so…he already knew.”  
The blonde nodded.  
“Ok, I’ll buy it if you buy dinner, mister LA.”  
She stood up, followed by Shirley and, then, Annie, who let Jeff a hand.  
“Mylord.”  
He accepted it.  
“Mylady.”

He turned once more to Greendale’s Campus. Yes, he had not been perfect, he still wasn’t. But Abed was right: they had all come a very long way…it was about time to accept everything. The good and the bad.  
He looked again at his tight-knit family.  
He couldn’t count the reasons he should always stay by their side, but none of them will never fade away.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaaaaand that was it. As a random comment, I made Shirley’s boyfriend being named Jorge because I was in a zero inspiration moment and it’s my cousin’s name so…that’s it, my lack of originality sometimes is prodigious.   
> Also, I wanted to pointed out tha tin my Community post-series fic series this could be the very last one, however, I really felt like writing it already (I guess…sorry for my caothic writing?)  
> I wish you have like it and, as always, all feedback (and comments in general) and kudos are very welcome,  
> Long life and prosperity,   
> Marla


End file.
